Little Dancer

Melanie first fell in love with Degas’ iconic sculpture on a life-changing French exchange trip to Paris, when she was a fourteen-year-old dance student.

Who was this gawky, rebellious little teenager in the Louvre, giving the metaphorical two-fingered salute to her polite onlookers? She was nothing like the smart middle-class ballet girls she hung out with.  

The image of Degas troubling sculpture was imprinted in her mind. After completing a degree in French and Italian, Mel lived in Paris and danced professionally in her twenties. She still performs regularly and in 2018 achieved her life-long dream of singing Jacques Brel songs at the Savoy hotel in London. 

Mel’s fascination with dance and movement led her to an MA in drama and movement therapy. She ran a training company for 18 years, became a yoga teacher and now has her own retreat company, based in the magical mountains behind Malaga.

Mel’s second meeting with the Little Dancer came 35 after the first. She wandered into the Royal Academy, shortly after completing her MA at Sussex Uni, despairing of the fact she still hadn’t got an idea for a novel.  And there was the Little Dancer waiting for her.  Mel could almost hear her hissing from her glass case, urging Mel to tell her untold story. So Mel did.